I'll Come For You
by Miss.Full.of.Light
Summary: Stefan and Caroline find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time after finally deciding to visit New Orleans on a whim; but you don't cross Klaus Mikaelson and get away with it, especially if you hurt the only person he has ever loved. Klaus/Caroline with slight hints of Stefan/Rebekah. Post 4x23, no The Originals plot whatsoever. Two-shot. Part two is pure fluff plus smut.
1. Part One

**Hey there, lovelies!**

**I am very excited about this two-shot, and that's why I decided to publish it separately and not as a part of my collection of Klaus and Caroline's one-shots. I might even add more chapters in the future, but for now I only see it as a two-shot, especially until I have more chapters ready for **_**My Brother's Girlfriend**_**. Although, I do have to say that this whole story basically wrote itself, giving me chances to breathe during and in between my classes at college and during my very long train journeys to get back home. Therefore, it sort of has a special place in my heart.**

**I want to thank the wonderful Bethany (MarsterRoo) for checki****ng this over for me, and Chelsey (mikaelshake on Tumblr) for making an amazing cover for the story.**

**Hope you all enjoy this, and please leave me a review if you do, it really means a lot to me to know that someone appreciates what I write.**

* * *

"We cannot act hastily, Niklaus. _Please_, be reasonable," Elijah helplessly tried to plead with his brother.

Klaus sighed, briefly closing his eyes to try and keep his temper at bay as he poured himself the umpteenth glass of expensive Bourbon.

"You know I don't like to sit and wait, brother," he scoffed.

It was Elijah's turn to sigh, and he was just about to speak again, when the door of the elegant, secluded study of their New Orleans' mansion that they had closed themselves into to discuss the fragile situation in privacy, suddenly flew open to reveal a very distressed Rebekah.

Ever the insensitive brother, the interruption only fueled Klaus' anger and annoyance, but before he could say anything, Elijah cut in, noticing their sister's panicked expression.

"Rebekah, what's wrong?" he inquired with furrowed eyebrows. Worry laced his usually placid tone.

The blonde original's eyes shifted from one brother to the other, looking at Klaus almost with fear.

"We don't have time for your childish tantrums, Rebekah," Klaus reproached her with clear annoyance, exhaling heavily through his nose. "I don't see a white oak stake protruding from your chest, so I suggest you make yourself scarce," he added, pointing to the door that she had just burst through.

Rebekah swallowed, but remained silent for a few more moments.

Eventually, she took a deep breath and spoke.

"A pack of wolves got Stefan," she announced, uttering the words so quickly that neither of her brothers would have heard her, had they been humans.

Klaus laughed humorlessly. "If I recall correctly, I _had_ told you that it was unwise to invite him over," he said, drowning the last remnants in his glass. "Or have any kind of interaction with him for the time being."

Rebekah ignored her brother's jab and went on. "They're keeping him in an abandoned underground cellar just outside the city's borders," she informed him, fidgeting with her hands, obviously anxious.

Klaus scoffed. "I would ask you how you know all that, but I don't care. That is your problem Rebekah, and you will have to solve it on your own."

"_Niklaus_–" Elijah tried to interject, giving his sister a sympathetic look.

"_No_, Elijah. I had told her that we are in a very delicate situation still, in this city. But she just _couldn't live_ without a boy toy for a couple of days," the hybrid roared, making Rebekah wince visibly.

"If you're angry now..." Rebekah muttered to herself, closing her eyes and taking a huge breath of unnecessary air.

"What do you mean?" Klaus asked her, almost dismissively.

"Stefan, he–he wasn't coming alone," she trailed off, bracing herself for her brother's reaction.

Klaus completely turned towards her then, regarding her with a suspicious, wary look.

"_Elaborate_."

"He might have told me Caroline was coming with him."

A heavy, deafening silence hung in the room. As unnecessary as it was for two vampires and a hybrid to breath, it felt almost threatening not being able to hear a single breath around them. Only the faint echo of the word _Caroline_ still lingered and nothing else, almost as if time had stopped.

The first one to break the silence was Elijah, fidgeting on his spot, confused at the seemingly dramatic turn of events. The situation did seem grave—Elijah had made a promise to Elena. He certainly did not wish for the younger Salvatore brother and one of her best friends to die at the hand of a couple of werewolves. Both Rebekah's and especially Klaus' set, angered and—_did he dare say?_—_frightened_ expression, seemed to reveal that there was something more beneath the surface that Elijah had no clue about.

He was just about to voice his confusion, a single breath itched in his throat, when Klaus suddenly sped towards Rebekah, immobilizing her against the wall with a tight grip on her throat.

"You better hope..." he trailed off angrily, through gritted teeth, fear dancing across his bright yellow eyes, and he didn't need to finish his sentence for Rebekah to understand the meaning of his words—_if anything were to happen to Caroline, it was on her_.

"Niklaus..." Elijah said sternly, and Klaus looked icily into his sister's eyes one more time before letting go of her.

"Show us where they're keeping them."

**:**

**:**

Klaus entered the cellar, although it really looked more like some sort of cave. It was cold and dark, and, even for Klaus who was half werewolf himself, that place reeked way too much of wolves.

He gritted his teeth, his jaw clenched, his heart beating frantically as worry set in and his fear grew with every step he took.

Elijah and Rebekah were right behind him, but his only concern was getting Caroline out of there safe and sound, while killing all of her captors in the process. It had to be understood that, even if she wasn't his yet, _nobody_ would ever be allowed to harm a single hair on her perfect, blond head and get away with it. She was the only ray of light in his life, his only chance at redemption, and the world would be sorry if he ever were to lose her so permanently.

Finally, they started hearing voices coming from deeper inside.

"Dammit, Steve, why can't we just kill them already? I'm bored," a male's voice whined.

Someone else scoffed. "Torture _is fun_, man," the new voice replied, a grin on his face easy to imagine given the smug tone of his words. "Isn't it, Steve?"

"Shut up, you two," a deeper voice, which probably belonged to this Steve person, reproached them both. "We'll kill them when the time is right. I want to watch them monsters suffer, then maybe vampires will start being sorry for trying to take away our city."

One of the other two werewolves snorted. "_Please_. It's not like they actually matter or something."

A sudden noise coming from the back of the cellar startled the three men, who looked around the place warily.

None of them even had the chance to breathe, before the one who had last spoken suddenly fell to the floor, lifelessly, a hole evident through his chest, where his heart should have been.

"_Wrong_."

The other two gasped at the sight of a murderous looking Klaus, the still barely pulsing heart of their friend grasped in his hand, bloody and unforgiving.

_She matters_.

It was mayhem then. Klaus effortlessly tore Steve's heart out of his chest too—_"And it was never your city in the first place, mate."_—as the other werewolf tried to escape but was stopped by Rebekah, who unnaturally twisted his neck and killed him.

Disturbed by the noise and the unfamiliar voices, the other wolves of the pack appeared from deeper inside the cell, but they didn't have much time to understand what was going on.

Klaus quickly moved towards where he could hear Caroline's whimpers of sufferance coming from, killing everyone who stood in his way without a second thought, his anger only fouled by the proof of how much they had hurt her.

Elijah and Rebekah swiftly took care of the others. On a full moon, the tables might have been somewhat leveled, but on a normal day, no amount of werewolves could ever be a match for the originals.

Finally, Klaus could venture through the tight passage that he could hear led to where the werewolves were keeping Caroline and Stefan.

Nothing, no amount of worrying and fearing for the worst, could have ever prepared him for the sight of her battered and bruised. Her face and hair stained with blood, her arms chained to the wall with two big locks around her wrists—caged like an animal, _his salvation_.

He vamp-speeded to her, his hands immediately breaking the locks and setting her free.

"_Caroline_," he half shouted, his voice trembling. "Caroline, love..."

She winced, her eyes closed, as if even the smallest of breathes hurt too much. "Klaus?" she muttered, confused.

"Yes, love, it's me. It's okay, it's going to be okay, you're safe," he chanted in a whisper, nodding more to himself than to her.

She was hurt now, probably both physically and emotionally, but she was alive, and that was all that mattered.

"Mmh, Stefan," she drawled out, fluttering her eyes open.

Klaus' jaw clenched, but nonetheless turned to the side for a moment to spot the vampire in question a few feet from where they were, his conditions no better than Caroline's.

"It's his fault," he growled.

Caroline laughed humorlessly, nowhere near her usual, genuine, twinkling laugh. "No, it's not," she replied as Klaus put one arm under her knees and the other around her waist to effortlessly lift her up into his warm and secure embrace.

"That's for me to decide, love," he countered, his anger barely contained under the surface. He had almost lost her, and he refused to let his sister and Stefan's blames go unpunished.

Caroline tried to laugh again, but it only resulted in a fit of coughing. "Are you really going to fight me on that _now_?" she teased, and Klaus couldn't help the small smile that appeared on his lips.

However, the newly found light mood soon snapped again as he took in the horrific sight of her right shoulder.

"_They bit you_," he roared, gasping slightly, all of his anger resurfacing in the blink of an eye. "Why weren't you telling me?" he asked, gritting his teeth.

Caroline moaned, trying to look at her shoulder but unable to move too much. "I honestly didn't know," she answered painfully. "Everything hurts, _excuse me_ if I can't really discern the causes of it."

Again, Klaus couldn't help but smile slightly—no matter the situation, she still hadn't lost her spunk, and he took pride in knowing that his little firecracker had probably had those worthless wolves going mad with her quips and remarks.

Without thinking about it twice, he rolled one sleeve of his shirt up to free his wrist, and offered it to her as he supported her up with his other arm.

Caroline didn't need to be told what to do. Even if she hadn't been bitten, she hadn't consumed blood in days and she was positively starving. Not to mention, his blood smelled delicious and she really wanted another taste—it had been too long.

She bit into his wrist gladly, moaning slightly as his blood hit her tongue and she sucked greedily.

She could already feel her energy coming back to her. Her bones going back to their rightful places and her skin healing where she had been cut and bruised. She sighed, letting go of his arm—which she had been gripping onto as she drank—and licked the last drops of blood on his wrist as the two little holes in his skin quickly disappeared.

She couldn't say she was feeling perfectly fine yet—her body was still immensely sore and tired, and mentally, she wasn't okay at all. No matter how many times she had already been tortured before—but she did feel a lot better, and it was a start.

"Thank you," she whispered.

Klaus smiled down at her, tenderly caressing her bottom lip with his thumb. "You're welcome, love."

Just then, Elijah and Rebekah arrived, and their little bubble bursted.

"Where's Stefan?" Rebekah asked in a rush.

Klaus rolled his eyes, tightening his grip on Caroline and bringing her a bit closer to his chest.

"Lover-boy is over there," he answered, nodding to the side, displeasure evident in his tone.

"He's lucky I have more important matters to attend to right now, I could kill him for being so reckless. He persists on his bunny diet and can't even take on a couple of werewolves when they're in their human forms," he scoffed. "If he has a suicide wish, then he better think twice about bringing Caroline with him the next time."

"_Hey_," Caroline whined in an attempted protest, although she was already on the brink of sleep. "Don't insult the bunny diet."

Klaus' hard gaze softened as he looked down at the blonde in his arms, and then he sighed.

"There's so much I have to teach you, love."

In the meantime, Rebekah had gone tending to Stefan, but Elijah was watching Klaus and Caroline's exchange with peaked interest.

He had never really seen his brother act like that around anybody, not even in his long gone human days. He was caring with her, a quality he didn't think his brother possessed anymore. What surprised him even more was that that behavior didn't seem forced at all, it seemed to come natural around the young vampire. Klaus was looking at Caroline and holding her like she was the most important thing in the world, and Elijah's eyes widened slightly as he finally realized, that to his brother, she was.

"Nik!" Rebekah's panicked voice broke through Elijah's reveries. "Nik, come here! He's been bitten, he needs your blood!"

Klaus laughed dryly. "He got himself into this mess, Rebekah."

The blonde original gasped indignantly. "_Are you serious?_"

Klaus shrugged, almost smug.

"So what, you're just going to let him die because he put your _precious bimbo_ in danger? _God_, you're so full of yourself! Elijah, help me, _please_," she looked at her other brother pleadingly, caressing Stefan's arm in a soothing manner.

Klaus scoffed. "I'm not going to let him _die_. But I'm sure he can cope for a couple more hours, serves him right."

"Ugh, _Klaus_," Caroline whined, rolling a bit in his arms. "I told you it's not his fault. _Please_. Do it so we can go home."

Klaus' heart jumped slightly in his chest at hearing her call his New Orleans mansion _home_, and Elijah watched with curiosity the struggle going on in his brother's eyes, before the hybrid eventually sighed.

With Caroline still securely in his arms, he walked towards where Stefan was crouched on the ground with Rebekah by his side.

He bit harshly into his own palm, positioning his hand over Stefan's head.

"Open," he commanded. Stefan wearily opened his mouth, as Klaus pressed into the rapidly healing wound to let some of his blood drop into the vampire's mouth.

"That will suffice for now and heal the bite, he can have more blood at the mansion," he said, retreating his arm and cleaning the wound against his jeans. "Let's go," he added with finality, before speeding away with Caroline.

Rebekah and Elijah helped Stefan to his feet. Then, they quickly followed after their brother.

**:**

**:**

"What's gotten into _you_?" Rebekah asked Elijah, eying him warily as she entered the kitchen for the umpteenth time to get Stefan some blood bags. "You've been weird since we got back. You can't tell me you've been traumatized by what happened," she scoffed with a laugh.

"Mmh?" was Elijah's only reply, as he mindlessly looked towards his sister for a moment, still caught up in his thoughts.

Rebekah's eyebrows furrowed in worry. "Are you okay?"

Elijah exhaled, briefly closing his eyes. "I'm perfect, Rebekah. Just... surprised," he commented with a hint of confusion evident on his face.

"The almighty Elijah, _surprised_? Wow," Rebekah mocked him, although affectionately, earning herself a slightly scolding look. "And, pray tell, what is it that you're so_ surprised _about?"

"What exactly is the state of our brother's relationship with Miss Forbes?" he inquired himself, although that was enough of an answer for Rebekah.

She shrugged—their brother's obsession for the blonde baby vampire was no piece of news for her anymore. "Nik is infatuated with her," she answered with an exasperated roll of her eyes.

"Infatuated seems like a bit of an understatement to me. And you too know that it is not that simple, or you wouldn't have been so terrified to tell him she was in danger this morning."

Rebekah glared at her older brother. "I wasn't _terrified_. I was _concerned_," she corrected him, lifting a hand to point a finger at him. "_For Stefan_, mind you. I can't stand Caroline."

"You don't have to fear he won't love you anymore, just because he is in love with her now," Elijah reassured her, his tone softening. They were very much alike in that sense, his siblings—always worried people might leave them behind, always worried to have gone too far for the other to stick around.

It was evident by the slight look of hurt flashing across Rebekah's eyes that he had in fact hit home, but she quickly concealed it behind an air of indifference.

"I don't," she said harshly. "And he isn't _in love_ with her," she added, before grabbing two blood bags and leaving the kitchen with haste.

Elijah smiled softly, lost in his musings once again. _His brother, in love_.

**:**

**:**

"Are you feeling better, love?" Klaus asked Caroline as she emptied the last one of the four blood bags he had brought her.

The blonde vampire nodded her head meekly, lifting her eyes into his intense stare.

"Yes. Thank you."

"You don't have to thank me anymore, love," he smiled.

Caroline shook her head with decision, suddenly feeling more driven. "But _I do_. You saved my life today. _Again_, and I–"

"I thought we had agreed that the first couples of times it had been my fault, so I suppose they don't really count," he chuckled.

She allowed herself a small laugh as well. "Well, this time definitely counts. And you can't blame Stefan for what happened," she added with a commanding pointed finger.

Klaus scoffed in response, although his eyes and tone were still gentle. "Oh, and why is that? I am pretty certain that _it was_ his fault."

"No, it wasn't, because..." she trailed off, suddenly shy, not daring to meet Klaus' eyes. "_I_ was the one who wanted to come to New Orleans."

The revelation caught Klaus by surprise, his heart jumping in his throat.

He tried to keep the hope swelling in his chest at bay, but it was already too late.

"Were you, love?" he asked with a hoarse, low voice, barely above a whisper. "Why?"

Caroline swallowed, gathering all of her courage. She had suffered through hell for the past two days, and she would be damned if it had all been for nothing. She knew what she wanted. What she _needed_.

"I missed you," she admitted with a trembling voice after a moment of silence, finally focusing her gaze into Klaus'.

The hybrid's breath caught in his throat, his eyes widening slightly at the blonde's admission.

The whole situation seemed surreal. In his head and heart, he had always been hers and she his, but he had thought he would have had to wait years, if not centuries, for her to actually come to him, and he had been more than willing to do so. Granted, she had only said she had been missing him, and not declared an unyielding love for him, but it was a step, one that rendered him speechless.

He could see the palpitation and worry in Caroline's eyes, with a hint of fear hidden behind the surface, almost as she was scared that he might have laughed at her then, or sent her on her way. But Klaus was, _if anything_, a man of his word, and he knew with complete, utter certainty that he had never loved nor would he ever love anybody before and after her. He had told her he would wait however long it would take for her, and he had meant it.

Smiling—and it was a rare, _genuine_ smile—he slowly brought one of his hands to her face, tenderly trailing up and down the side of her cheek with his knuckles.

"I missed you, too, sweetheart."

A radiant smile broke on Caroline's face, her cheeks reddening endearingly. She bit down on her bottom lip. Fluttering her eyelashes, she looked down, away from the intensity ever present in Klaus' gaze which was in no way helping the already uncontrollable beating of her heart—she knew that he could hear it. The only thing keeping her from being terribly embarrassed was the fact that she could hear his as well, pumping nervously in his chest.

"You should rest, now, love," he eventually broke the comfortable silence. "It's late and you've been through a lot."

Caroline nodded, feeling a bit disappointed as he dropped his hand from her face, her cheek still burning where he had touched her.

"Stay with me?" she asked shyly, meeting his dark blue eyes with her own.

"Of course."

Klaus lay on the left side of the bed, keeping his arms open for Caroline to climb into them.

He cradled her into his chest softly but securely, kissing her forehead and hearing her sigh as she closed her eyes.

"Sleep, love. You're safe now."


	2. Part Two

**Hey there! So, this is the second and last part of this story. Thank you **_**so much**_** for all your lovelies reviews. To be honest, this story received much more positive feedback than I was expecting it to and that made me really happy. So, yeah, thank you to everyone. That really made me want to turn this into something bigger, but at the moment I'm already barely juggling myself between **_**My Brother's Girlfriend**_** and **_**Red Passion**_** (my latest Klaus/Caroline story, please check it out!) so I can't promise anything. One day, maybe.**

**This is unfortunately un-beta'ed because I wanted to be able to publish it before the holidays ended, given that I already made you all wait much longer than it was initially intended for this second part. So please keep in mind that English isn't my first language, and that there might therefore be some mistakes.**

**I really, _really_, hope that you'll like this, and that you won't be disappointed in how I ended it. Heads up that the rating changed to M! Please don't be afraid to leave me your opinion through a review!**

**Enjoy,**

**Giulia.**

* * *

Klaus knew that he wasn't going to like whatever the situation was as soon as he first stepped foot into the loud and crowded bar, only to notice Rebekah sitting alone at the counter and cringing slightly as she saw him approaching her.

She was supposed to be on 'Caroline duty'—a term both girls hated with all their mights—as he and Elijah took care of the last few loose ends that Marcel's recent defeat at his hands had left around New Orleans. However, the younger blonde was nowhere to be seen and it took Klaus less than a millisecond to go from relaxed and excited at the prospect of spending some time with his little blonde distraction, to antsy and enraged.

The last few months had been hectic, to say the least, splashed in blood and revenge. The war between him and Marcel had divided in two halves the supernatural community of New Orleans, and no street, no bar, no corner of the city had been safe. Not even the Mikaelson mansion itself, although guarded by way too many hybrids created thanks to Katherine's offered, newly-human blood.

Therefore, obviously, as much as Klaus loved Caroline and wanted nothing more than to have her by his side every second of his every day, New Orleans was the last place he would have wanted her in in such dangerous and out of control times.

Against his heart's desires, he had therefore tried to convince her to go back to Mystic Falls for the time being—and what pain uttering those words with such uncommon unselfishness had caused him, as he feared he would have not been given a second chance with her if he were to actually manage to send her away—but, in true Caroline Forbes' fashion, every time, she had simply snorted or scoffed or challengingly raised her eyebrows at him, almost as if to _dare_ him to actually _force her_ to leave his side.

_No_, she was going to fight this battle with him.

She didn't, _obviously_. She stayed, yes, but—the memory of her chained and battered still too fresh in his memory—he hadn't let her anywhere near Marcel or his people or his revenge plan. Instead, she visited museum after museum, shopped and spent way too much money, tried new delicious foods, and walked around the city taking in its beauty countless of times, him or, more often, Stefan or Rebekah accompanying—ahem, _babysitting_—her.

So much for _her_ being the control freak.

In hindsight, to Klaus, having Caroline near did nothing but a lot of good.

For starters, he hadn't needed to constantly worry about her safety being in someone else's hands. He didn't even want to imagine what could have happened if Marcel had found out about her and how much she meant to him and she had been alone and unprotected back in Mystic Falls. _No_. At least, this way, he had always known where she was and that she was safe, and, in case something had happened, he would have been there to protect her himself.

Then, obviously—much to his siblings' joy and relief as well as his own—her presence highly—_highly_—improved his mood. He was still as broody and menacing and instable as ever, but, every time, all it took for him to calm down and crack a little smile was even just a glimpse of Caroline scurrying through the house or the lingering echo of her infectious, tinkling laughter coming from upstairs, where she often busied herself watching TV or gossiping of this or the other thing with Rebekah (not so surprisingly, the two girls had become very good friends in very little time, especially after Caroline spent a whole night drying Rebekah's tears as she let her cry into her shoulder when Stefan had decided to momentarily go back to Mystic Falls).

The baby vampire had even made it a point to have at least two family dinners every week—one where she would be present as well (if there was anything Caroline was exceptionally good at that was acting as a buffer), and one where she would quietly take her plate upstairs with a small smile and leave the Mikaelsons to fend for themselves in a gradually less awkward and tense silence every week. They insisted, genuinely and for long times, that she should still dine with them, but she would adamantly shake her head every time, claiming that she needed some time to herself as well after all—and _she did_.

Living with the Mikaelsons, and especially living_ with __Klaus_, was more intense and overwhelming that she could have ever anticipated, and so she gladly used these free couple of hours she had to herself, relaxing with a long, bubbly bath and some music, or Skyping her mum or friends, who were slowly but surely starting to accept her choice of moving to New Orleans, even if it was to stay with the originals. It was her life after all, and they loved her enough to just want for her to be happy, even if her happiness came from such an unlikely source. Forever was too long a time to hold grudges after all, and none of them was a saint. So, as long as they kept her safe and happy, even the Mikaelsons were good in their book. It had taken some convincing, yes—_a lot_ of it, actually—but eventually everyone had come around and that was all that mattered.

All in all, life was good. _Very_ good. Except for the fact that, as far as the most romantic side of it was concerned, Klaus and Caroline's relationship had not progressed one bit. Yes, there were the usual lingering stares that made goosebumps rise on Caroline's skin and that reduced her to a trembling mess with a madly beating heart, and they flirted and teased each other more often than not, leaving Klaus incredibly frustrated at the most inconvenient of times, but that was it. Neither had yet taken the final leap.

If she had to be honest with herself, Caroline knew that the final step was up to her. Klaus had already voiced how deep his feelings for her were several times, only to be rejected time and time again. So, she couldn't exactly blame him for waiting for _her_ to make the next, _decisive_, move, no matter how much she knew that the palpable sexual tension coursing between them affected him as much as it did her—it was Rebekah's favorite pastime, teasing her about it to no ends.

So, it was up to her. She owed him that much, after all.

And it was with that knowledge that Caroline had entered the bar that evening, followed by Rebekah, hours before.

Finally, it was _time_.

But no matter how many times she had reassured herself of how Klaus felt about her—because, _really_, she had to be blind not to see with how much love and adoration he looked at her every time their eyes met—it was easier said than done, and it was just a matter of minutes before she had drunk far more alcohol than she could hold up and forgotten all about what she had wanted to do in the first place, ignoring Rebekah's pleas to not do anything stupid (or it would have been _her_ head) as she left the barstool next to hers and joined the dance floor.

"I told you not to leave her out of your sight," Klaus ground out through gritted teeth, dangerously narrowing his eyes at his sister.

Rebekah turned her head to the side for a moment, towards the inebriated, dancing crowd. "We're not at war anymore," she mocked him. "Let her live a little. _And_," she added after a pause, mindlessly fingering the straw of her drink. "I have _not_ lost sight of her for a single moment. She's right there," she cocked her head to the side.

Klaus quickly scanned through the place, grimacing at the mass of sweaty, drunk people cheaply grinding against each other.

Finally, his eyes lit up as he located the familiar blond head he was searching for among the crowd, but the grin on his lips quickly turned into an angry frown as he saw a boy next to her dancing way too closely and acting way too friendly for his liking.

Quickly and angrily, he made his way through the mass of people, shoving and glaring, his eyes blazing with fury as they lay on the boy's hand touching Caroline's arm. The only thought keeping him barely calm was that, soon, the boy would have _no hands_ to touch Caroline with.

"Come on, just a drink," he heard the boy say, hooded eyes and smirk in place.

Klaus growled. That boy had either to be a tourist, or really, _really_ stupid.

_Everyone_ in New Orleans knew that Caroline was not even to be looked at in such a vulgar way, let alone touched. Little did Klaus care that it probably was rather unfair to her—that his reputation added to the possessiveness that he felt towards her rendered her basically unapproachable as far as the other sex was concerned—because, _yes_, he had promised her that he would wait as long as it was going to take for her to come to terms with how she felt about him, and he still intended to keep true to his word, but competition was not at all in his plans. He had had to endure enough sufferance on that aspect back in Mystic Falls already.

So, it was no surprise that, as soon as people started noticing Klaus' threatening stance as he approached the pair, a few vampires started throwing pitiful glances towards the still unaware young boy, gulping as they knowingly freed the way for the hybrid, deciding that it was no day to be collateral damage.

"Hello, _love_," Klaus whispered—although loud enough for the boy to hear him as well—against Caroline's hair, his arm going around her small waist as he yanked her against his chest possessively, his hard, stony eyes set on the poor boy in front of them.

"Klaus!" Caroline giggled happily, as she turned around and excitedly looped her arms around his neck.

Klaus smiled, already feeling less murderous and more serene as the arm that was around her caught her slight jump, pressing her soft, warm body more firmly against his, as her intoxicating but refreshing lilac perfume overruled his senses and calmed him down.

If the incessant giggles and the too spontaneous display of affection hadn't already given her away, then her strong alcohol breath would have—she was _definitely_ drunk.

Klaus couldn't help but grin—even as hazy and tipsy as she was, she still was all kinds of perfect to him.

He breathed her in, closing his eyes for a second as he turned his face into her neck.

"I missed you, sweetheart," he confessed in a low voice meant only for her.

Caroline simply tightened her grip around his neck in response, smiling against his cheek.

A throat clearing interrupted their little moment, and Klaus raised his head to look at the daring intruder. He was torn between laughing at him or killing him when he saw that it was the boy from before, still standing there in front of them and apparently waiting for Caroline to redirect her attention towards him again.

"Come on, man, me and the lady here were having a good time," he smirked, winking at a very unimpressed Caroline who was still safely tucked into Klaus' arms. "Can't you two greet each other later?"

So the boy _was_ dumb, after all.

Klaus's eyes flashed yellow in an instant, the smirk taking place on his lips nothing but utter wolf.

Gently, he retreated his arms from around Caroline, shielding her behind him as he moved forward until he was chest to chest with the foolish boy. The latter quickly lost his over-confident smirk, gulping down as he took in Klaus' dangerous stare.

"You chose the wrong _lady_ to pick up on, mate," Klaus admonished him with a dangerous smirk, and, in a moment, his eyes had focused on the boy's dull ones and dilated.

"_Leave_," he ordered in a low, commanding tone. "New Orleans. _Now_. Although, you should start a street fight before leaving, maybe let some fella beat you up real good," he compelled him, his smirk widening. "Teach you not to bother a girl obviously way too out of your league next time."

Patting the boy on the shoulder, strongly enough to hear an unnatural cracking sound that made him deviously satisfied, he eventually released him of his compulsion and watched as he hurriedly left the bar in a haze.

When he finally turned towards Caroline, he was met by an adorable frown. "You didn't have to do that."

In this matter, it was a fortune for him that she was so inebriated, or she would have put up quite the fight against his alpha male behavior. Instead, he simply silently wound an arm around her waist, bringing her into his chest again, feeling impossibly happy at having her so close.

A new song started then, and Caroline's demeanor turned overly animated again in the matter of a few seconds, as she wriggled in Klaus' arms and beamed up at him.

"I love this song!" she cried out excitedly, pulling at his arm and making him chuckle at how endearing she was.

Klaus sighed, bringing a hand up to tenderly trail down her cheek with its knuckles. "What am I supposed to do with you..." he muttered to himself.

Caroline heard him though.

"_Dance_! That's what you're supposed to do!" she replied with a huge smile as she jumped up and down, unable to stay put.

The hybrid raised his eyebrows skeptically. "To this kind of music? I'm afraid not, sweetheart."

Caroline huffed, stomping her foot to the ground like a little child. "You chased away my previous dance partner, it's the least you can do. _Pleeeeease_."

And just like that, Klaus was a goner. He already had enough trouble saying no to her as it was, but when she pulled the puppy eyes card on him, then he never stood a chance—Caroline Forbes _invented_ the puppy eyes.

Rolling his eyes, he took her hand in his and swiftly but gently spun her around, then bringing her impossibly close to him as she faced him again, his other arm going around her waist with movements less effortless than breathing.

"This is not how we are supposed to dance!" she reproached him with furrowed eyebrows, stumbling on her feet and clumsily colliding into his chest, making him chuckle again out of affection. "It's not a slow song!"

"Come on, love. Humor me."

"Mmh–_ugh_, my head huuuurts," she suddenly whined, pitifully, hiding her face into his Henley and breathing in his unique smell.

Klaus gently shook his head, a smile on his lips. "Of course it does. You probably drank your weight in alcohol," he mused teasingly. "Why is that, by the way?" he asked her after a pause, genuine curiosity seeping into his tone as he looked down at her blond mane burrowed into his chest.

She whined again, then sighed, her sounds muffled against him. "I'm in love."

Immediately, Klaus stopped moving, his feet freezing on the spot just as much as his heart froze inside his chest. Caroline, however, didn't seem to take notice of that, as she kept on swaying against him from left to right and then back again.

"Come again, love?" he asked, swallowing down the lump that had suddenly formed in his throat.

Sure, since Caroline had joined him and his family in New Orleans, he had spent most of his time outside of the house, plotting and scheming and killing and regaining his rightful throne, but Caroline had admitted to him that fateful day that she had come _for him_, because she was missing _him_, and he had thought things were going great between them—had he possibly missed her meeting and falling in love with somebody else?

"I'm in love," she repeated. "With an idiot," she added after a moment, groaning as she let her forehead fall against his chest.

Klaus' jaw ticked in barely contained anger, and he stepped back from their embrace, keeping Caroline at arm's length. His gaze swept over her with its usual intensity and he caught her slightly confused expression before taking a hold of her arm—as gently as he could in his new wave of rage—and dragging her away from the dance floor towards where Rebekah was still sitting by the counter, now with Sophie at her side.

The witch's greetings for the pair quickly died in her throat as both her and the original vampire suddenly became aware of the fury evident in Klaus' eyes.

"What happened?" Rebekah asked as soon as they were within human hearing distance, her tone alarmed and her eyes wide.

"She's _in love_," Klaus spat, propelling Caroline forward between him and the two girls, who were now both looking quite lost and confused.

"What?"

Klaus clenched his jaw again, glaring at his sister—he _was not_ going to repeat it.

Instead, he decided to verbally attack her to let go of some of his anger.

"When I told you to be her chaperon, I thought it went without saying that finding her a boyfriend was not part of the deal."

Rebekah frowned, helplessly turning her gaze to Caroline and then Sophie, before returning it to her brother.

"What the hell are you going on about, Nik?"

"She said she's in love with someone," he replied through gritted teeth, feeling his heart clench painfully at saying the words aloud again. It made it all the more real.

"She's _drunk,_" his sister gave him a pointed look.

"Which is why I know she was being honest when she admitted to it."

After a small pause, Rebekah sighed and turned towards Caroline again. "You're in love?" she asked her incredulously, folding her arms across her chest.

Caroline gave her a pointed look, looking wild with her bright blue eyes and flushed cheeks for the too much drinking and the too much dancing.

"_Duh_. You always say it's obvious that I am."

It dawned on Rebekah then—_at last_—what Caroline meant. Or, most precisely, _who_ she meant—_Klaus_.

"Oh, _right_," the original grinned, sharing a knowing look with Sophie, who had caught up to what was going on as well and looked rather amused.

"_You knew_?" Klaus growled accusingly.

Rebekah sighed, dismissively waving a hand at his enraged brother. "It's not what you think, Nik. _Really_. She's drunk and will probably regret everything that she has said tonight, just take her home."

Klaus felt relieved, if only slightly, at his sister's words—_"It's not what you think."_—and nodded hastily, turning to Caroline, his gaze naturally softening as it lay on the blonde beauty, even if he wanted to be mad at her (he never could).

"Come on. Let's get you home, love."

"But I was having fuuuuun," she whined petulantly, her voice sluggish.

Ignoring her protests, Klaus put one arm under her knees and the other around her waist, deftly lifting her up against his chest.

"I think you've already had too much fun for one night, sweetheart," he replied almost tiredly, and, as he exited the bar with her in his arms, she was already halfway asleep.

Watching them leave, Rebekah shook her head with a sigh, turning towards Sophie.

"_Idiots_."

**:**

**:**

Caroline mumbled incoherently in her sleep as Klaus carried her in his arms through the front door of the Mikaelson manor.

Her earlier words were still ringing loudly in his mind—"_I'm in love."_—gripping his since long dead heart in a tight, vicious grasp, making him bleed a blood that he wasn't supposed to have, not anymore.

He had had a lot of time (too much, maybe), to think and ponder, during the ride back home from the bar, Caroline fast asleep next to him in the passenger seat. Rebekah's earlier reassurance didn't feel the littlest bit comforting anymore now, and all he could think about was that he had somehow managed to let the best thing that had ever happened to him slip away through his fingertips only in order to reconquer a reign that was worth nothing if he couldn't have a queen by his side. And the only queen that he wanted, the only queen that he _needed_, was Caroline.

Trying to keep his anger at bay, at least for the time being, his hands had tightened so hard around the steering wheel, knuckles turning white as he kept a too firm grip on it, that he had ripped in two the faux leather of his Volvo, cursing whatever Gods up there hated him so much for all the bad that he had done in his life. Did he deserve Caroline's love, after all?

_No_, he didn't. And he damn well knew that.

But the point was that he wasn't sure if he would have been able to handle seeing her with another man, not now. Not when he had been there these past few months, witnessing her growing into an even more amazing woman, leaving behind the small town girl that she used to be. Because he _knew_ that if she was in love now, then it wasn't going to be a brief, whimsical college romance, but something much more long-lasting, and his already strained heart couldn't possibly take that.

Almost inadvertently, his arms tightened around her sleeping form at those thoughts, bringing her closer to his chest, taking advantage of these last few, fleeting moments that he could have with her like this as he carried her up the stairs.

Caroline whimpered slightly and he looked down at her angelic face.

"_Klaus_," she whispered, turning in his arms to snuggle closer to him, and making his dead heart soar in the process.

It was incredible, really, what that tiny and fragile (if compared to him) creature could do to him, making him feel emotions that he had thought himself incapable of feeling for centuries. And he hated himself for allowing a bit of hope still blossoming inside of him, but when she uttered his name like that, he just couldn't help himself. And he decided then—if competition was what was waiting for him, then competition he would fight and beat. Because _she was worth it_, she was worth it all. Because this was possibly the hardest and most important battle of his whole, eternal existence, and battles and wars and rivalries he had won before. He would _not_ give up now. Not ever.

Much like the first time that he had brought her into his home, after she had been kidnapped and tortured by that werewolves' pack, he selfishly decided to carry her to his bedroom instead of opting for a guest room. Not that it could really be said that Caroline occupied a guest room anymore, _no_, she had her own bedroom, and just like there was his bedroom and Rebekah's and Elijah's, then there was _Caroline's_ bedroom. That was how integral she had become to a family so dysfunctional and used to not let anybody in if it depended on their lives like their own. But, somehow, with her light and her optimism and her innocence, Caroline weaseled her way into their cold, dead hearts and made them better. _All_ of them, not just him—although he definitely benefited from her presence the most. Rebekah finally had a friend, a _real_, genuine, honest, _best_ friend. And Elijah, used to be surrounded by Klaus' constant mistrust and Rebekah's cunningness, thoroughly enjoyed having a moral, positive, bubbly confidant such as Caroline for a change. Not to mention that he gained a great deal of happiness and peace in seeing his brother finally happy and much less vengeful. It was a winning situation for everybody, really, and Klaus didn't doubt that his siblings wouldn't waste a single second before blaming him for sending Caroline running away from their family, if it really was the case and she had actually fallen in love with somebody else.

With a sigh, having reached his bedroom and pulled down his large, king size bed's covers with one hand as he kept Caroline firmly against him with his other arm, Klaus finally deposited the blonde beauty on the sheets, watching her with sheer, unadulterated love as she rolled on her side and got more comfortable. Carefully, as not to wake her up, he disposed her of her shoes and covered her thin, lithe body with the warmth of his dark blue duvet.

He got rid of his jacket, and then opted to sit down on the rocking chair between his bed and the glass door that gave way to his own, private, spacious terrace.

He smiled as he settled on it, his adoring gaze still trained on the blonde beauty currently sleeping in his bed. Rebekah had in no uncertain terms called him _whipped_, when he had first purchased that rocking chair. Caroline had bought one for her own bedroom a week prior, and would always adorably complain, with that irresistibly cute pout of hers, that she missed it and didn't know where to sit whenever, for one reason or another, she found herself in his room. Useless to say, after a few days, Klaus' room hosted an identical copy of said rocking chair. Rebekah had rolled her eyes with a snort, while Elijah had smiled knowingly, but Klaus realized that he was willing to get called 'whipped' any time of any day as Caroline happily raced into his arms and thanked him over and over again with a beaming smile that made his whole world light up.

With those thoughts occupying his mind and a heavy heart still worrying over Caroline's words, Klaus eventually drifted off to sleep.

**:**

**:**

Klaus was still sleeping when Caroline finally woke up, a few timid sunrays filtering through the closed curtains covering the large windows.

With a moan, she brought a hand up to massage her forehead, her head pounding terribly—the first sign of her hangover. Technically, vampires weren't supposed to actually ever get drunk, let alone be hungover, but Caroline really wasn't what could be called a _typical_ vampire, and she was as much as a lightweight now as she had been as a human.

She was, however, coherent enough to realize that the room she was currently in wasn't hers, but Klaus'.

Rising herself up to a sitting position, she looked around the room, squinting her eyes and trying to shake off the last remains of her sleepiness and confusion. After a few moments, she finally spotted the aforementioned hybrid sleeping in the rocking chair that he had purchased mostly (if not _only_) for her some time ago now. Her features immediately softened at the sight, but right after a few seconds she felt a pang of guilt in her chest as she suddenly recalled the events having taken place between the two of them the previous night, especially the terribly hurt and disheartened look on Klaus' face as she admitted to him that she was in love with someone, not knowing that, that someone, was actually _him_.

She also remembered the way Rebekah—_bless her_—had tried to reassure him, but she was pretty sure that it had only been in vain. She knew Klaus by now, and she knew the way that he was used to act whenever he felt hurt or somehow betrayed—he would most likely immediately close himself off to her once again, quickly rebuilding all those tall, nearly unbreakable walls that she had taken months to tear down. But if he actually thought that she was just going to let him, then he really had another thing coming, because _hell, no_.

That definitely wasn't the way that she had envisioned finally telling Klaus how she felt about him, but desperate times called for desperate measures after all, and that _certainly_ was one of those desperate times. She had no intention to let all the progress that the two of them had made over the last few months go to waste because of a drunken slip-up, but she knew that she had to act fast. Were Klaus to wake up, she would never get the chance to explain herself, for he probably would only take her words as a plea for forgiveness or, worst, lies, casting her away or running away himself before she really had a chance to say what she needed to say. _No_, she had to think of something effective, and she had to do it now.

Suddenly, she had an idea.

Slowly, she peeled the warm blankets off her body. Intent on making as less noise as she possibly could, she stood up from the bed and tiptoed her way towards Klaus.

She hesitated for a moment, unsure, but immediately chastised herself. Part of her was—foolishly, _she knew_—still scared of rejection, while the other was sort of scared of how big this commitment was. It was incredibly strange and such a new feeling, given that, in all of her previous relationships, _she_ had always been the one ready to move forward while the boy had been the one trying to slow things down; but it was no wonder, really, because, with Klaus, it was all or nothing—she had always known, always _feared_. Even if, _be honest with yourself Forbes_, the thought of actually spending an eternity with Klaus–

–and not the imaginary happily ever after that happened in every fairytale, but the _actual_, until the end of time do us part, _forever_–

–was thrilling and exciting, something that she wanted like she had never wanted anything else before in her whole life. And, she had finally decided, there was no point in keeping on postponing it all—the _real_ beginning of her immortal life—she wanted it _now_.

With her mind finally set once and for all, Caroline cautiously, so as not to wake Klaus, brought her legs up to the rocking chair, knees bent at Klaus's sides so that she was carefully straddling him, their bodies barely touching yet.

Immediately, he slightly moved in his sleep, turning his head to the side, although still seemingly unaware of her presence.

Taking a deep breath, Caroline slowly lowered her head towards his, grazing his slightly stubbled cheek with her nose. At the same time, she brought her hands up to his shoulders to circle her arms around his neck.

"_Klaus_," she whispered into his ear in a very low voice.

Slowly coming back to reality, Klaus blinked a couple of times, trying to shake off the haziness that he felt as he opened his eyes. He took into the darkness of the room around him and then turned his head towards Caroline.

The feeling of her body over his was spectacular, like nothing that he had ever felt before. Yes, there had been the occasional times where he had held her in her sleep or where they had been sitting very close on the couch or in the kitchen, but _this_ was the first time that he could really feel all of her tantalizing, soft curves pressed up against him, and the sensation was quickly sending him into overdrive. She smelled _so good_, like happiness and hope and everything good that he wished he had in his life, and she was _so warm_, making his heart beat impossibly fast in his chest, trapped beneath his ribcage. He felt incredibly silly, reacting to her the way that he was, but he couldn't help it and, in all honesty, he wasn't even sure if he _wanted_ to. Caroline made him feel more alive than he had ever been before, even more so than when he still was but a mere human boy. And if feeling like a teenager dealing with his first crush was the nastiest side effect, then he would take it, no questions asked. Because there was nothing nor nobody that he needed and wanted in his life more than Caroline, and, no matter how much he craved the power and the control that being the strongest, most feared creature in the whole, wide world gave him, he loved the fact that he could be different with her, that he could somehow let go of all his worries and just _be_. As cliché as it sounded, there was no better way to put it—she was the light to his darkness.

Their gazes locked together, blue set on blue, a swirling of untold emotions coursing between them. Neither could tear their eyes away, the intensity of the moment having them hold their breath in some sort of anticipation.

"Caroline, love," his voice trembled as he brought a hand up to cup her cheek. "Is this a dream? Am I still dreaming?" he whispered, unable to comprehend how she could possibly, _willingly_ be there with him in that moment.

His words sounded so sad but awed at the same time that they made Caroline's heart break a little. Her misunderstood confession must had really taken a huge toll on him.

A small smile curved her lips. "You're awake, Klaus," she replied, unwrapping her arms from around his neck to bring her hands to his face, lovingly caressing his cheeks, her thumbs lightly touching his bottom lip.

Klaus looked completely mystified, his eyes searching over face for a hint of what was actually happening. Swallowing, he slowly brought his arms around her waist, almost fearing that the action would have driven her away. Instead, she smiled in encouragement and moved closer to him, settling more comfortably over his lap.

The feelings that she was evoking inside of him were so overwhelming and electrifying that his body was barely conscious of the luscious way in which she was currently straddling him, his mind instead dazed with the acceptance that she was seemingly showing him so freely and happily.

But the words that she had uttered the night before were still not completely lost to him, and _he had to ask_.

However, he could barely wet his lips once with his tongue as he wracked his mind for the right words to say, when Caroline immediately softly shook her head. She was still smiling and he couldn't help but swear to himself that he intended to keep that smile there on her lips for as long as he would live.

"It was _you_, Klaus. I'm sorry that you found out like that, but it was you. Last night, what I..." she trailed off, swallowing down her insecurity as her heart kept on fluttering madly inside her chest.

She sighed, heavily.

"What I said... I was talking about you."

Klaus' eyes immediately widened as he took in a sharp intake of breath, almost gasping. His grip around her waist imperceptibly tightened, as if he wanted to make sure that she would stay there, with him, as long as he could possibly manage to keep her, because–_no_. He couldn't believe it, he couldn't believe that this was actually happening, that this moment had really finally come. It couldn't possibly be true. _Nobody_, not the parents that had repeatedly tried to kill him nor the siblings that still somehow stood by his side, had ever told him that they–

–_but she hadn't either, not really_.

And Caroline _knew_, she could see it in his dark, intense, disbelieving eyes, that he needed to hear _the words_. And he deserved them, too. Because even if he had never said them himself, they were in every lingering look he bestowed upon her, in every swift caress of his hand on her skin, in every small or ridiculously expensive gift that he coaxed her to accept from him, in every little but at the same time special and important thing that he did for her every day. They were in the _damn rocking chair_ that they were sitting on in that very moment right there, as well.

"I love you."

The energy and atmosphere of the whole room immediately shifted at her confession, the weight of it wordlessly hanging in the small space still present between them. There was no going back now, and they both knew it.

In an instant, his burning eyes taking her in, for this moment was going to be forever sealed into his memory as the most important, monumental moment of his whole existence, Klaus brought a hand to cradle her neck, impatiently bringing her head down towards his, their lips fusing together immediately.

Caroline gasped at the sudden movement, almost unconsciously giving him access to the depth of her mouth. Their tongues met, tangling and lacing together, hot and wet and searching. It was their first kiss but it felt like it was their millionth.

Again, she tightened her arms around his neck as he kept her pressed impossibly close against his chest. They were both still wearing their clothes from the previous night, which were starting to become rather uncomfortable as they tried to get even closer and closer to one another, Caroline's legs tightening around his hips.

Klaus framed her face in between his hands, momentarily releasing her lips only to immediately dive back in, eagerly sucking and nipping at her bottom one. At the same time, her hands entered underneath his shirt, caressing his shoulder blades and then down his back as far as she could reach. Klaus wholeheartedly relished in the feeling of her hands directly on his skin, spreading warmth all over his body.

His hands almost having a mind of its own, he fingered the hem of her top, eliciting a moan from the blonde as he touched her unmarred skin, slowly caressing up the curve of her spine.

Their lips separated again, as Caroline hid her face into his neck, panting, her nails digging into the skin of his back.

"_Caroline_," he warned—he wouldn't have been able to stop, were they to go any further.

"I want this," she promised in a whisper, her breath caressing his ear.

Klaus moved back slightly, forcing her to raise her head from its spot against his shoulder. Her eyes immediately focused into his, nothing but love and determination shining wildly in the bottomless, blue orbs.

"There will be no coming back, love."

Smiling, she replied. "I know. I love you."

It was those three words again—_his undoing_.

He closed his eyes, still somehow unable to process the reality of what was finally happening. She would be _his_, utterly and irrevocably, just like he had been hers since the first time that he had crossed the threshold of her house to cure her from a fatal bite that was nothing but his fault.

Finally reopening his eyes, Caroline almost gasped at the emotions burning in them, their usual blue a shade darker, awe and lust swirling around them with no reserve.

"I love you, too."

Caroline didn't have the time to fully process his words—well, actually _yes, she did_, because _she was_, after all, a control freak and those words meant too much to her, stored away in her heart and in her memory—as his lips crashed down onto hers once again.

It had taken Klaus an immense amount of courage—so much more than the one he showed while battling his enemies—to pronounce _the_ words, words that he had never told anyone before, not even his siblings. But there was not a doubt in his mind, and more importantly in his dead, _rotting_, black (but there was light in it, too, now) heart, that he meant them. And Caroline deserved to know. She deserved _everything_ that he could ever give her and more.

Their mouths fused together, but their tongues never battled for dominance, _no_, instead they danced together slowly over and over and over again, never getting tired of one another.

They quickly rid each other of their shirts, and Klaus made quick work of her lacy bra, carelessly tossing it on the floor, somewhere around the dark room. His hands immediately went and cupped her breasts, eagerly kneading the newly-exposed flesh and making Caroline moan.

He tried to stand up, with every intention of moving them to the bed, but she immediately pushed her hips down against his, effectively making it impossible for him to leave the chair and coaxing a groan from his lips.

"_Here_," she almost begged—and who was he to deny her anything?

Deciding to give more attention to her bared chest, Klaus started lavishing her with kisses, starting from her collarbone all the way down to her breasts, quickly taking one of her nipples between his teeth, sucking and pulling at it greedily.

"_Klaus_."

Caroline's moan went all the day down to his already hardening length, still hidden underneath the confines of his jeans.

She was so receptive and so responsive to his ministrations, a goddess in his arms, and he filed away into his memory all those things that made her react to him the most, like the way she arched into him as he started caressing up her naked back, pushing her breasts more forcefully against his eager mouth. He wanted to ruin her for anybody else, and make sure that she forgot about all those that she had been with before him.

She was _his_. And he was _never_ going to let her go, not after this.

Retaking her lips, he pushed his hips up against hers, needing some friction, some _relief_. She quickly understood, and her hands went to his jeans, her fingers nervously fumbling with their button. Once the jeans were finally undone, Klaus lifted his hips, helping Caroline pushing the garment down to his knees, together with his black boxers.

Caroline's hand eagerly wrapped around his hardness, feeling it pulsating slightly against her, even more wetness seeping through her panties in reaction.

"_Love_," Klaus groaned, briefly closing his eyes in the attempt to regain some control. "Not like this," he pleaded through gritted teeth.

Caroline's eyes immediately softened, and she nodded slowly as soon as Klaus had reopened his gentle eyes into hers.

Together, they made quick work of her own jeans and then her panties, pulling them both all the way off her legs.

Finally, they were both completely naked on the rocking chair, the sun shining through the curtains more brightly than before and hitting their tangled figures.

Caroline left a trail of soft kisses from his shoulder to his jaw, making him shudder under her, his arms keeping her close. Eventually, she retook his lips, unhurriedly and lovingly. She raised her hips, lightly squeezing her arms around his neck to let him know that she was ready.

With bated breath, he positioned himself at her entrance, then nudged her head away so that they could look into each other's eyes as he finally guided her down onto him.

They both moaned at the sensation of being finally joined as one, Caroline closing her eyes while Klaus watched every single emotion flickering through her face, mesmerized by her beauty.

Gently caressing her flushed cheek with the back of his hand, he lay a single kiss on her lips.

"Open your eyes, sweetheart."

As soon as she did, their gazes locked together again and he finally started moving within her, slowly and deliberately, taking in every sweet sound that left Caroline's parted lips. He wanted to prolong it as long as he could, but they had both been waiting for this moment for far too long already and, after a while, their movements almost subconsciously became more frantic and more purposeful.

Caroline muffled her moans against his neck, as his arms wound even more tightly around her small waist, pulling her impossibly closer. Their hips kept rotating together, up and down, making the chair creak under their combined weight and movements.

Klaus sucked and bit on her neck with his human teeth, leaving a momentary mark on her skin, and then proceeded to engulf her lips with his once again, his tongue seeking hers inside her mouth. Caroline's nails were now digging almost painfully into his beck, cutting through the skin and drawing small rivulets of blood.

The tension got too much too quickly, their movements hurried and almost confused, the burning coil in the pit of their stomachs snapping at the same time. They writhed helplessly against each other, rising and rising until they fell together over the precipice of their combined climax, their hips still gyrating together desperately, the room silent if not for the melody of their attuned moans and pants.

With their orgasms slowly subsiding, they kept on kissing each other languidly, almost lazily, their lips swollen and wet, their tongues pushing and pulling in a slow dance known to nobody but the two of them.

After a few more moments, Caroline eventually fell back slightly, leaving one last, small, lingering kiss on Klaus' smiling lips. His happiness, _their_ happiness, truly was a sight to behold.

"I love you," she said again, against his warm lips.

If possible, his smile became even more beaming, mirroring the one that she knew she was wearing as well.

"I love you, too."


End file.
